Video Girl Ai Chapter 116 Discussion
- Thread starter fgbnpo
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- #2
However, I had too many issues with how it was handled. Might make a review. But, it was just too rushed.
Yota didn't feel like he actually loved Ai for many, many chapters. We get a few brief moments, and then Ai's birthday celebration which was the pinnacle I felt, but Moemi got far more attention from Yota than Ai did for the longest time. Even up to chapter 109, which is the first chapter in the last volume, Yota still thinks he doesn't love Ai, believing that he only wants her because she's good at coloring his picture book.
But then, Yota flips on a dime and decides, he does love Ai, after all?! Well, the scene where that happens is indeed beautiful; it's in chapter 110, in the snow, and he hugs Ai and realizes he loves her. In the moment, it feels great; I was happy, and the awe that Yota feels at realizing Ai's beauty and how much he loves her and wishes to protect her was heartwarming. But really, in hindsight, even that scene just... it wasn't enough. We needed more like that throughout the final volumes. We needed Yota's realization that he loves Ai to happen gradually (even if he himself doesn't realize it until the "Aha!" moment in chapter 110), we needed assurance that Yota still had feelings for Ai deep down.
Yota's romantic love for Ai needed to be ever present; even if he tried to suppress it, the reader needs to feel that he loved her, always.
While Yota was with Moemi, he needed to think of Ai a lot more than he did, but instead, he hardly thought of Ai at all, and was a hair's length away from ditching Ai for Moemi. Not just externally, but internally, it felt like Yota wanted, longed for Moemi more. Look, Yota's neglecting of Ai could be attributed to him being scared of getting attached to Ai, since he knew her playback time would run out sooner or later. And we got the necessary internal monologues from Ai herself saying that this was how she felt, why she didn't want to get closer to Yota; but, on Yota's part? No, we didn't get that. While he was totally fawning over Moemi, Ai's love was unrequited.
Since Yota began dating Moemi, we got Yota's thoughts about anxieties over Ai's playback time maybe once, maybe twice, but never as explicitly being about "love" as I wanted.
I needed him to think, "I love you Ai. But I'm scared to love you." Instead, I got "Well her playback time will run out, so I shouldn't get close to her. Also, I love Moemi."
At the end of volume 12, Yota outright exclaims, "I don't love you, Ai." He says Moemi still excites him, but Ai never did. 2 chapters later, Yota changed his mind. Then, the rest of the chapters, I am supposed to believe that Ai is the one girl Yota loves and has always loved?
I really wish I could buy it. But I just don't. It pains me to say, but this great idea of an ending wasn't effective due to the horribly rushed nature of Yota falling back in love with Ai. That needed to happen gradually, we needed build up.
But, with all that said. The entire thing kind of feels like something that will grow on me over time. I'll let it "marinate" for a bit, and think about it some more, and reread parts of the manga a bit and think about why I loved the manga to begin with, before I truly understand what it is that disappointed me about the final few volumes or maybe I'll come to understand the intent behind them better, or find that there are hints at Yota's love for Ai that I overlooked. Who knows, but I can't say I dislike Video Girl Ai. Far from it. And I do appreciate Ai getting a happy ending. Right now, yes, I think it's rushed and Yota's love felt disingenuous. But I gotta ponder over it a bit more...
There are also several other things I was disappointed about, like Takashi not interacting with Yota or Moemi at all ever since "the day of the storm", and how weird it is that Moemi was able to move on from Takashi and never think about him again despite him being the supposed love of her life... but I'll leave it here for now.
- #3
@Jacobpaige: the chapters between 44 and 115 are really worth reading. If you are an emotional person like me you might even cry...
The best thing was Moemi's rape and her aftereffects but it was good to read because Moteuchi was the "rapist".
They messed lots of things:
- Moteuchi being (almost) rapist
- Natsumi dissapeared and Moteuchi doesn't care - then he cry at her death (funny)
- almost no info about Gokuraku
- Rolex doesn't "studied" about love in the end
- and more that I forget
btw. what's the purpose of Gokuraku?
- #5
she got raped? dang OO the anime is so fluffy. I guess its like Bunny Drop where ppl prefer the anime to manga. I plan to read after the anime but i just had to look up spoilers :P
No she wasn't. MC saved her but the event still traumatized her. Also OVAs are just for Manga promotion, they couldn't cover the whole series. The same thing happened with Petshop of Horrors and Ah My Goddess back at the day (with Goddess being the only one who got tv-series out of all three).
- #6
Skipped from chapter 44 to 115, and yet I understood everything. Which means that I was right in assuming that nothing of any importance would happen for the rest of the series :/
I suppose I should just be glad that I didn't slog through the entire 116 chapters for this thoroughly average ending.
Same. Picked up the manga where the OVA left off and around 30 concluded that the series had gone from romance to dysfunctional harem. Shame, for it had such a great start too.
- #8
Skipped from chapter 44 to 115, and yet I understood everything. Which means that I was right in assuming that nothing of any importance would happen for the rest of the series :/
I suppose I should just be glad that I didn't slog through the entire 116 chapters for this thoroughly average ending.
I was about to give this series a 10 but this ending ruined it for me. It made me feel depressed rather than happy cause of the whole Rolex thing in the last few chapters. Thats not how a lovestory should end!
@Jacobpaige: the chapters between 44 and 115 are really worth reading. If you are an emotional person like me you might even cry...
- #9
jacobpaige said:
@Jacobpaige: the chapters between 44 and 115 are really worth reading. If you are an emotional person like me you might even cry...
The best thing was Moemi's rape and her aftereffects but it was good to read because Moteuchi was the "rapist".
They messed lots of things:
- Moteuchi being (almost) rapist
- Natsumi dissapeared and Moteuchi doesn't care - then he cry at her death (funny)
- almost no info about Gokuraku
- Rolex doesn't "studied" about love in the end
- and more that I forget
btw. what's the purpose of Gokuraku?
From your conclusion could i say that was rape when Ai pressed her nude breast against Yota's back without his consent? also she harassed him into bathing with her and many other stuff. But my point is, why do you believe he was almost rapist? cuz he trew Ai at the bed believing that the love connection he had to have with her was "making love" and he was eager to make her human asap. Or is it because Ai said that "what he was trying to do was rape" to him? imo she was only kinda messing with him and trynd to make him give up. But if he continued making moves after what she said, then i would agree with you. But they were in love, he tryed something and it didnt go well so he gave up. Nothing wrong imo. At least he didnt pressed his privates against her like Ai did ;).
- #10
One thing that I liked is that the beta couple (Moemi x Takashi) didn't end up together. That happens in many stories and in most of them this resource is lame.
At least, I interpreted the ending not as a miracle but it was the device the old man tried to make work before his death that finally activated.
